Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-05-18
MOUsING AROUND.

we women ONO OUT IN the country nave
our s'trials and t%ribulations, and ups
and downs" as poor Aunty Wyatt used
co say in class meeting before she
reached the pointof exaltationSin which
she was in the "third heavings," as she
always put it. .
Professor O.. Howe Greene called:
last evening on his way home from the.
funeral of his deceased grandmother.
He was telling about tho next meeting
of presbytery, to be followed by the
woman's missionary society in his vii
lago, and how very difficult it was to
find entertainment for the women, es-
pecially. This set us to thinking.
After we went to bed we thought about
it, and in our worry we turned our pill
low over and over, We laughed silly
when we remembered one day at the
sewing circle the talk turned in this d.
r%ection, and we had so much fun COM
pairing notes.
How many women away out in the
country dread the Summer for the COM
pany it brings. They gee so worn out
with heat and care and anxiety that
they are left stupid and cross, and the
losers instead of the gamers.
No n likes to talk on this subject.
We don't want to be inhospitable, but
how often the gain is all on the other
side.
We pity u city friends. When the
country puts on it's holiday attire and
everything becomes so beautitied, some
times they are tempted and go where
they are not wanted. They forget that
the farmers wife needs recreation, too.
Not many visitors. would be trouble
some if they observed afew rules-some
of these:
Wait for an invitation. Do notquar-
ter yourself on q fifth cousin during the
busy season without consulting her
convenience in fixing time, length and
arrangement of your sojourn. Make
as little trouble as possible when you
are her guest. Tact and observation
will show you what to do and what to
avoid.
Adapt yourself to the habits of the
family Allow them q little privacy.
Be blind and deaf to all you see and
hear. Assume no superiority-they
may be vastly your superiors. You
can not always see through the freckles
and the tan. Be well-bred, consider
ate, consistent, and full of pleasantly
and good cheer, ready and willing to do
good at all times. Do not talk about
them after you have gone away.
A lovely girl whom we all admired,
orphaned in her childhood, used to be
one of u Summer visitors. She had
the browning fault that annoys country
people exceedingly. She would keep
Jul breakfast waiting while she fixed up
her bonnie brown hair the one beautiful
way she always wore it, tossed up into
loose-lying curls and tresses above her
forehead and ears. The men and boys
and the waitinghorses would all champ
and move uneasily and bide her tardy
ways, and often to be out of patience,
eat hurriedly, fly to their work, and
have a bad send-off for the long Summer
days. We can not tell how much it
grieved US and how annoyed we were
through that poky girl visitor. In every
other way she was charming and we all
loved her dearly. -. @..'
Two ladies used to visit us, second
cousins of dear old Grandma Ricketts,,
who had the nefault, too, They liked
to sleep two hours longer than our fam
lily, They said they were never hungry
mornings, all they wanted was bread
and butter and coffee. This plan
worked well, but after while the odor
of the roast veal was appealing, and
they thought they could stand s'a very
small piece, cousin" and and oatmeal
steamed was wholesome, and it was
$50 proper for the bowels, cousin" and
poached eggs fresh from the nest
among the current bushes or the cedar
shavings were SO much better than s'old
stale city eggs, cousin" And after a
while, about the time our work was
done up and, the churning ready to
rinse down and gather, and the hot
sunshine streaming in at the East win
dow, they could order a meal as clipper
as if they were at a hotel. And this
from a oma who did all her own
work. s early, got the hands off to
the field in fine time, MIXED three COWS
sent four babies to school with their
dinners in a basket, churned, washed
and ironed and-oh you know, some of
you women readers have sheen there''
yourselves and know about it.
But the '.fruit and berry cousin'' arc
the funniest. They know by the same
instinct as does the robin when to make
their raids and "go see our dear cousin
on dear mothers side, very plain, in
nocent sort o-family-y-e-e-e-s." Our
strawberry cousins came last year right
in the busy, hurried time, when we were
heels I'VE head in work that conficted
powerfully. She is Ruhama, was mar
ried to "old man Ricketts, half
brother, and when he died she married
a son of the Disciple preacher, a man
who followed the "preaclling business"